


He'll be Al-right

by AwkwardDuckProducktions



Category: The Bastard Crew, The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: (Don't actually curse the ancestors, As you do, Cursing at the ancestors is his favorite pasttime, Gen, He dies but comes back, Hurt No Comfort, I just love being mean to him, Pre-bastards, blood mention, they don't fuck around)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23057206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwkwardDuckProducktions/pseuds/AwkwardDuckProducktions
Summary: Anansi, just after escaping from her grasps, finds out he can't die
Kudos: 2
Collections: The Bastards Crew, The Stowaways





	He'll be Al-right

Well this was hell.

Anansi could come up with reasons why he was currently in this particular predicament, hundreds of them perhaps. And he knew they would all be lies.

But it’s the idea that he could have avoided being thrown into a scrap metal shredder. He could have not come to fucking planet. He could have not come to this fucking city. He could not have gotten out of the crate for another ten years.

But... somewhere deep in him, he knew he deserved this, as the screams of his metal leg and his own echoed in the small room. His face painted red with his own blood, he knew he deserved this. Yet still he screamed. Still unwilling to face fate like a good little soldier. Were storytellers meant to be soldiers? Now that made no sense, but neither did he. The Silent Storyteller. Because that made a whole lot of fucking sense.

The steel teeth chewed at his hands and there was no fight in him left. He fucking failed, alright? He fucking failed because there was no fight left in him. Of all times, why now did the ancestors choose to be quiet? It would have been better than to listen to the teeth of the gears destroy him, his work- _ their work.  _ This was their mission too! His failure was their failure too! But no, he just had the sounds of blood flooding his throat as the teeth ate at his chest. Everything was red in his eyes. In his throat. In his head. It was a lovely color to be buried in.

  
  
  


It would have been, Anansi thought. But it was time to wake up. His body demanded it of him.  _ Get up.  _ Oh great, the ancestors demanded it as well. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted to the infinite sky. One of the recordings started playing,  _ because of course it fucking had to _ , explaining how each star was one of the members of the ever extensive family, always there with him, always watching-

Anansi flipped off the stars.

And the recording stopped.

“So now you wanna fucking listen,” the voices and stars were silent as the Silent Storyteller spoke, “because who said, ‘Hey, maybe we should wait on this planet? It’s too fucking close the planet I-  _ Yes! I! It was me who did all the escaping! _ \- just escaped from.’ But nooooooo, it will be fiiiiine.” He sat up, keeping his eyes on the stars. “Assholes! All of you!” He made quick work of undoing his belt and pants, the sandy trash pile was not the best place for this, but he unhooked and released hip socket. The familiar searing pain brought tears to his eyes as he pulled the wires out. Muttering under his breath every curse he could think of, Anansi yanked his leg out from his pants leg. 

The voices of the ancestors screamed at him in their mute ways. Some for his anger. Some for his brash decisions. Some for the  _ fucking indency- Really, Anansi, now is not the time to reach into your pants _ . Like he doesn’t know. All of them screamed but none for the right reason.

“I’m fucking done with you all!”

And the screaming simmered down to but a whisper among themselves. Not that they could say anything that would stop him from working on his shoulder. The delicate latches nearly snapping in his grasp.

“I’m done!” The tears that fell, he knew he couldn’t lie and say it was from the wires crossing as he tore off his arm and threw it as far as he could. “Find some other poor fucker to be your fucking toy.”

And silence fell on them.

Silence.

Nothing but his loud desperate gasps and the stars.

_ How are you going to walk?  _ One of the voices of old finally spoke up. Many thought that he shouldn’t have said that.

“I’ll fucking roll if I have to.” No matter that he only had his... his... He has one side and it was his... his... The hand in front of him, reformed by some accursed magic. He had known this hand for all his short renewed life and yet... It was probably from the stress. A word so simple can easily slip his mind. The ancestors provided no help _. As if that was different from any other time,  _ Anansi thought as he struggled to stand. After a few horribly unbalanced embarrassing tries that would make a baby giraffe cringe, he feared he might actually keep his threat. 

But it wasn't like he was needed anywhere. He  _ could _ just lie in the trash for decades on decades.

That did sound nice.

_ -I think it's recording- _

“No, you don’t get to play this.” But of course they were going to play this. 

_ -my name is... It's Jaylen Capp. Right. Jaylen Capp. I don't know where I am or what's happening to me.- _

“You are being very rude right now.” His mind would always go back to this recording, his first recording. The first couple nights free from her grasp, he would play it over and over. Over and over. Someone he must have known, or knew the body he inhabits now.

_ -I don't think I'm going to last long. This woman says she'll fix me but... _

To share something so personal...

_ -I don't want to die. I want to go back to my mom. I want my siblings back.- _

Yes, he was mad at the ancestors- and rightfully so. But...

_ -my mom always t-told me stories when I was scared. There's some- some cobwebs in the corner of this prison. She always used to point and say "when you see that Jay Jay, you know it's Anansi still holding on- _

Jaylen was the first to trust him.

_ Holding on- _

To trust him to hold onto his story.

_ Holding on- _

“I’m still angry.” Anansi announced. And they knew. They didn’t have to feel the pain he felt. They no longer have to worry about things like feeling their bodies becoming a paste or trying not to worry about why he couldn’t remember what side of him was still human. They were just there. Forever.

And he was here.

Forever.

Feeling everything. All the pain, all by himself.

And the stars watched it all in quiet discontempt.

All too much for Anansi to handle, as he let his eyes fall close. “Jaylen, if you’re stuck in this forsaken body with me...” In the darkness, he reached for the words he dreaded. “I’m only doing this for you, you  _ asshole _ .”

And with that, Anansi gathered his pieces and the remains of his will.

And he started walking.


End file.
